Never Again
by Precious Marble
Summary: Thief 2014 Prompt: "Never Again" - Basso (something feels-y that goes into why Basso won't ever remarry) Basso's wife is caught cheating on him and he turns back to the bottle. Garrett arrives for a job but notices something wrong and instead decides to stay with his friend.


The fence sat in silence, his thumb stroking the top of the wine bottle that rested between his legs. His wedding ring was torn off, resting a top a stack of papers, mainly contracts and old bills. He hoped the openness of the ring would attract the magpie of a thief. It was his time again tonight anyway. Garrett had stolen the ring for him and his wife – Basso hadn't told her where he got it – and he could take it back now. He could tell by the way he would glance at it; it was something sparkly and pretty, worth a pretty penny too. He could have it and add it to his collection of Gods know what. The thing was a bad omen.

He chugged the bottle of cheap red wine cringing at the sound of laughter from upstairs. Jenivere flapped her wings before settling back down on her perch beside her master. Black eyes watched him as he drank.

"Easy there, Basso." The familiar voice caused him to lift his head, a smirking face hidden only by faint shadows.

"Garrett…" A slight sound of relief filled his voice, despite the obvious slurred speech. Garrett eyed the ring before his attention was caught by the slam of the half empty wine bottle and the small collection of empty ones in the corner of the room. Something was wrong; it's been ages since he had seen Basso drink that much.

"D-don't ever get a woman, they're b-b-b… bad news." Basso stumbled. He gripped the side of the table to get his balance again. Garrett watched him, pulling his hood down revealing the short, dark hair, he leaned to one side and folded his arms across his chest, and his head cocked just slightly revealing an air of interest.

"What happened?" Basso scoffed at the question grabbing at the bottle again. The content swished in the bottle. He jabbed the bottle in Garrett's face, he took a step back eying the bottle carefully before pushing it out of the way.

"Y-you want t-to know what happened, huh?!" He coughed, or more hacked, into his sleeve, "Fucking women was sleepin' with another taffer when I got home this evenin'!" He sneered at the idea, turning away from the short thief and taking another swig of the bitter tasting drink.

"She's been doin' it for the past year too! I didn't even notice…" He slumped back down into his chair. He could feel his heart breaking again, just as it had when he entered his Stonemarket flat. The sound of laughter and flirty comments from his supposed wife. She had gotten angry at him for coming home too early; he had gotten angry at her for everything. The man she was with wasn't even that attractive… probably a deal wealthier than he ever would be.

He hit his head against the desk, he was so stupid. He must look like the biggest idiot to Garrett. Basso raised his head, his wet eyes meeting Garrett's dark ones, he could Garrett had no sweet clue what to do to console people. Why was he even blubbering onto him anyway? It's not like he had any sweetheart… he was probably a fucking virgin too. He picked up the ring from its stack,

"Do y-you want this?" Basso stammered,

"Sell it. I have other rings." Garrett took the ring though out from Basso's fingers. He scrutinized the details, the tiny jewels implanted in the gold-plated band. It wouldn't be worth keeping. He placed it back on the table in front of Basso.

"Come on." Garrett grabbed the larger man by the elbow, heaving him to his feet. Basso grabbed the bottle as he swayed on his feet.

"T-there's job, you know. Y-you d-don't need to w-worry about poor, little me." He stumbled as Garrett just kept pulling on his arm. He was met with no response from the thief. Garrett opened the room he knew Basso used as a spare resting spot and most likely would turn into his home.

Garrett had only met Basso's wife once, during one of the only times Basso was able to convince he and Erin to come out during the day. It had taken him some time to get back into his regular sleeping pattern again and it had surprised him that he didn't fall asleep during the meeting. He remembered her being relatively friendly. She was a maid from one of the homes in Auldale. She complained a lot about a thievery in the manor she worked for that had happened a couple nights earlier. One of his better resulting heists of late, the home was full of sparkly trinkets. Nearly anything that wasn't nailed down was taken by him. It never occurred to him that the servants got punished for when things got stolen, but so is life. Basso had only mentioned he dealt in "pawned" goods as he put it.

Something about her though struck him as fake, and Erin had caught it too. There were too many smiles, false laughs. Basso had never noticed, blinded by love, the stupid fool. But off the bat he could tell she liked neither him nor Erin. They had eaten at a café that afternoon; the stuffy, crowded room had put the two thieves on edge despite both of their best efforts. It got to a point where Garrett had to go outside, Erin had told him later on that she called him a 'tiny, little thing' and had called Erin a 'scruffy, ugly child'. Since then any offers from Basso to see her again had vanished.

Garrett let go of Basso's arm and closed the door. Basso glanced at him bewildered, but decided to sit on the edge of the bed to stop the room from spinning. Garrett sat himself onto of the nightstand, arms folded across his chest, leaning back against the cold, stone walling.

Basso swallowed,

"I did love her… I don't understand why she would do such a thing…"

"Entertainment…" Garrett murmured, tilting his head as a glare was shot towards him from the drunken man on the bed.

"What fun could he have been? He was at least five times the s-size of me!" He cried and hurled the bottle towards the wall. Garrett jumped as it smashed spraying liquid everywhere, dying the white sheets of the bed red. Basso swore,

"T-that was my l-last bottle."

"Good." Garrett stared at him. The fence ran his fingers through his dirty, long hair scratching his head and massaging his scalp. He heaved a heavy sigh before burying his face into his hands,

"W-what should I d-do? I c-can't go b-back… I d-don't know w-what to do…" He started to sob, "S-she took e-everything t-too…"

Garrett chewed his lip as if he was in the process of thinking. He pushed himself off his perch before reluctantly and awkwardly hugging Basso. Basso started at the new gesture from the small man before he wrapped his arms around Garrett. His arms were tighter around Garrett's waist than the thief would've liked and the thick smell of alcohol clouded his senses. He wouldn't be surprised if he got drunk just off the alcoholic fumes of Basso's breath.

Garrett squirmed out from Basso's deathly hold on his body, shifting awkwardly before he realised the small tear tracks on the man's face. He smiled wearily and got a sad smile in return,

"Sleep on it." Garrett pulled his hood back over his face, making for the door.

"D-do y-you w-want that job?" Basso wiped his face on his sleeve. Garrett shook his head.

"No, I have a friend who needs some things back." He smirked slightly, exiting through the door and slinking back into the shadows. Basso kicked the door closed, finally chuckling. However quietly.

"Sneaky B-bastard…"


End file.
